Welcome

As you read this you are probably paying homage to a beige box on a desk whilst wishing you were outside ... OK maybe not, it is a bit chilly.  Well if you are going to endure some cyber torment, let us keep you informed about events with Open Adventure.

Sponsors

2006 has seen new sponsors on board for Open Adventure.  Merrell, the well established outdoor brand are now on board with shoes and T-shirts as prizes in the Open5 series.  We are looking forward to working with Merrell in Adventure Racing and bringing their brand to the forefront of adventure racers minds when think about footwear. 

    

Total Adventure is also on board with prizes for the Open5 series and Open24 winners.  Paul and Sam Noble from Total Adventure are the guys behind Windermere Canoe and Kayak, Grizedale Mountain Bikes as well putting together a winning team for last years Wilderness ARC and coming 2nd in last years Open24.  If you need some help with technical training, be it rope work, kayaking skills, Mountain Biking give these guys a call - they know what they talk about.

Woo thats enough orange for this newsletter.  Back to business.

Scheming for the event continues, we are confident this is going to be one better than 2005 - quotes from the last event suggested it just couldn't get any better.  Entries are trickling in with the discounted entry fees available until March 31st.  Anquet maps are supporting the event with prizes and 20% off Yorkshire Dales mapping for competitors. You can find more details about the event and the Anquet offer here.

We know Its a way off, but just one thing to lodge in a few minds is volunteers - last year it got a little desperate, to the point that we almost had to pull the plug on a few fun stages as we just didn't have enough people around.  For last years event we had over 20 volunteers, who were moving bikes and kit around, managing transitions and looking after kit, spotters on powerboats, marshals at special stages, etc.  If you are toying with the idea of doing more Adventure Racing, this is a great way to find out about it - wing us an email and pop the date in your diary.

Hebden Bridge the first event of the 2006 has been and gone with a record turnout of 150 competitors, the event was a success largely because of local event planner Mick Kenyon.  Competitors at the event were torn between swearing at him for making them go up down too many hills and thanking him for the weather and the excellent day out.  Stuart Hale from Team Accelerate pulled together an event report which is now up on the Sleepmonsters website here. 

Its was a close run event with scores very tight at the top end, prizes from Mountain Hardwear, Merrell, EAS and Anquet were awarded to the 1st 2nd and 3rd.  Well done to all.  Remember for the series ranking you only have to compete in 3 events from the 5 available to be ranked - 4 to go...

[photos ::  Hebden Bridge - Peter Hartley]

James Kirby and Peter Hartley were taking photos at the Hebden Bridge event, they are now available to buy on the Sleepmonsters website here.  Its worth noting that if any of the photographers took photos of you in 2005, they will only be available on Sleepmonsters until 5th February.

More details about future open5 events can be found here.

Promotion

Empty wall at work, notice board at your local gym, enquiring friends - wing us an email and we will pop some posters and leaflets in the post.  You can also download a copy of the poster from the website here (although it is 4mb!)

And finally

Hope you have a good day, its been a good one for us.